The G7 Summit Highlights Western Leaders' Hypocrisy

The mainstream media also misrepresented the intention of the Trump administration to level the playing field by telling the story of Trump the protectionist.

But the requirement of the Trump administration in the G7 to eliminate all tariffs and barriers, rejected by the rest, has shown that the hat trick of accusing the United States of protectionism was simply a PR stunt. Every time the Trump administration has threatened its trading partners with tariffs, we learned of hidden barriers from the so-called “free trade leaders” in China and the European Union.

In six months we have seen an important list of tariffs and barriers against the United States that many of us simply thought did not exist. And this is on top of the already higher explicit tariffs that especially China levers on imported goods. Even the European Union recognized that the “Made In China 2025” plan, which the United States denounced, was a conscious objective of limiting foreign trade.

So the story the mainstream media tells is wrong. Trump does not favor protectionism, he just wants real free trade, which means no tariffs—but for everybody. He tries to dismantle the trick of imposing hidden barriers, smile, and then export more to the United States. Needless to say, he can only get some movement into the matter by threatening to impose tariffs as a retaliatory measure.

Because of the threat, the German car manufacturers themselves have asked the European Union to reduce tariffs on U.S. cars, the Chinese have agreed to reduce barriers to the imports of U.S. agricultural and industrial products, and so on.

But because other G7 leaders want to have their cake and eat it too, the G7 summit had to explode. If all countries subsidize their excess capacity and try to export to the United States while using peregrine excuses to limit imports from the world leader, a charitable agreement is not possible.

And the “free-market-disguised protectionism” strategy of some of the G7 leaders collapsed when Trump said “they have taken advantage of the United States for decades” and called for the elimination of all tariffs and tariffs completely. Interestingly, those who presented themselves as defenders of free trade refused.